Africa News November 18, 2013 at 10:53AM

VENTURES AFRICA – World leading courier DHL Express, and South African fuel retailer Engen will partner to create new outlets for customers to send documents or parcels through the latter’s service stations on the continent to the courier company’s major centres across over 220 countries worldwide.

The project, which will pilot at four Engen service stations in the Namibian capital Windhoek, will then be rolled out in phases.Botswana, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Tanzania are earmarked for the second phase.

“The Namibian pilot includes four sites – Jan Jonker, Bonsmara, Eureka and Klingenberg,” DHL disclosed in an official statement.

“The express logistics industry, and specifically retail services for consumers and small and medium enterprises, are becoming hugely important in Africa,” Sumesh Rahavendra, Head of Marketing for DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa, commented.

He furthered saying: “For us to better service this market and open up global opportunities for students, small business owners and general consumers, we needed to both increase access to our express products but, simultaneously, make it easier and more affordable to use them. Engen is therefore an obvious partner for us – they are not only a solid African business but have an extensive retail network across the continent, which can benefit consumers.”

MD of Engen in Namibia, Nangula Hamunyela, also added that the partnership with DHL could help the company’s global outlook.

Engen Petroleum Limited, a subsidiary of Malaysian national oil and gas company PETRONAS, is an African energy company with significant presence in 18 countries in Sub Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. The company also exports its products to various other territories.